Tag Archives: guides
Hove named as most desirable place for young professionals to buy a home
The seaside town of Hove is the most desirable location to buy a home in England and Wales for young professionals for the second year in a row, according to the latest research. It is the BN3 postal district in the town on England’s south coast that tops the research from Lloyds Bank with neighbour Brighton’s BN1 postal district coming in as the seventh most popular place to live for aspiring 25 to 44 year olds. Attractive factors include a diverse population, the availability of music venues, theatres, independent shops, bars and restaurants, and the fact that it is under 70 minutes train ride to London, have made Brighton and Hove one of the most sought after places for young professionals to live. London itself continues to prove popular with young professionals, with 16 of the 20 areas with the most property sales to this group being located in the capital. Some 10 of these areas have a SW post code and include locations such as Wandsworth, Wimbledon, Battersea, Balham and Clapham. Away from south London, the most popular areas for young professionals are Hampstead, Kilburn, Paddington and Islington while the RG1 area of Reading is the 20th most popular place for aspiring young urbanites, drawn by a combination of Reading’s short commuting time to London, close proximity to technology businesses and the planned opening of Cross Rail in 2019. Beyond London and the South-East, Didsbury in south Manchester is the most popular hotspot for young professionals. This bustling area has become a magnet for commuters due to its proximity to Manchester city centre and major motorway networks. Around the regions, the other popular hotspots for career minded young people include the CB4 area of Cambridge, West Bridgford in Nottingham, Jesmond in Newcastle, Cardiff Central in Wales and Broomhill in Sheffield. However, on average young professionals pay a premium of £88,000 for a home in the most popular postal districts compared to the wider city or town in which they are located. But the average house price in the most popular postal district of BN3 is £33,972 lower than in the whole of Hove at £352,718 compared to £386,690. In other areas of London the price premium is considerably larger. In the W4 district of Chiswick the average house price of £866,492 is £390,388 higher than in local area district of Hounslow. And, in the N1 area of Islington houses are trading at an average premium of £267,891 compared to the whole of the Islington borough. Even outside London young professionals face hefty prices for a home in the most popular areas. In Didsbury homes trade at a premium of £106,383 compared to Manchester at £266,105 compared to £159,722. In Clifton the average house price of £397,599 is £132,163 higher than in Bristol as a whole and in Harborne they trade at a premium of £101,592 compared to the whole of Birmingham. The three most expensive areas for young professionals all command an average… Continue reading
One if five homes for sale in London is priced at £1 million or more
With property prices in London continuing to rise new research shows that one in five homes for sale are listed at £1 million or more. London is one of the most expensive cities in the world for property and the research from estate agent eMoov shows that 20% of all London properties currently listed for sale are priced at over a million pounds. The firm analysed current stock levels across all of the major portals, recording the total levels listed for each London borough, before comparing this to the level of stock listed for £1 million or more and also researched the same percentage of stock across the capital as a whole. The borough with the highest number of properties for sale at over £1 million was Westminster with 63%, followed by South Kensington and Chelsea at 62%. There is a considerable gap to the next highest which is Camden with 43%. In contrast in the boroughs of Barking and Dagenham there are no properties for sale for a £1 million or more and surrounding boroughs have very few. For example in Newham, Bexley and Waltham Forest only 1% of homes for sale are prices at £1 million or more and in Redbridge and Havering it is 2%, in Lewisham 3% and Greenwich 5%. ‘When people think of London they accept prices are through the roof. Even though the average house price in Barking and Dagenham is considerably lower than the London average at £253,000, it still trumps the UK average by tens of thousands of pounds,’ said eMoov chief executive officer Russell Quirk. ‘In a market as inflated as London where stock is scarce and demand is overwhelming, it's quite remarkable that there is still an entire borough without even one property at the £1 million mark or over,’ he pointed out. ‘With prices across London continuing to rise, surely it won’t be long before Barking and Dagenham will see some of its properties priced at £1 million or above. Despite this, our latest research shines yet another spotlight on how unaffordable London is from a property point of view,’ he explained. ‘When you consider that across a city as vast and as populated as London, one in every five properties will cost you a six digit price tag, it really is disheartening for the aspiring London home owner,’ he added. Continue reading
Investment in rural land in the UK seeing weakening returns
A weakened investment performance suggests that confidence in the rural land market in the UK is cooling after years of great returns. The IPD UK annual rural property index shows that total return recorded in 2015 was 5.5%, down from the 10.4% recorded in 2014. It is the most subdued return since 2008 and reflected a market cooling after several years of very robust returns in line with other investment classes. Sentiment was tempered by weakening commodity prices, and more recently by political discussions around Britain exiting the European Union. The report says that this caution around future market uncertainty was most reflected in rural land capital growth, which slowed to 4.1% in 2015 from 8.9% in 2014. This marked the lowest growth since 2008 when values depreciated. The decrease in the rate of capital growth contributed the most to the decline in the total return. The restraint in capital value growth was most pronounced in South East, where growth declined to 5.8% from 17.9% in 2014. There was also significant moderation in capital value growth across Eastern England, East Midlands, and Yorkshire and Humberside regions. Northern England and Scotland recorded the slowest value growth at 1.1%. Rural income return, however, held relatively steady at 1.3% compared to 1.4% in 2014, the figures in the annual index also show. ‘The weakened investment performance suggests confidence in the land market is cooling down after years of great returns,’ said Colm Lauder, MSCI vice president. ‘Moreover, the uncertainty created by discussion over Brexit and the potential effect of such a move on agri-food exports hit the confidence of farmers to increase rental holdings or invest further,’ he explained. He added that investors were concerned that it will be some time before there is a clear picture for the agricultural economy. MSCI also recorded a total return of 10.8% in 2015 in the IPD UK Annual Forestry Index, which marked a decline from a total return of 18.6% in 2014, the most subdued return since 2008. The index report points out that the decline is despite healthy demand for timber and wood products. However, a strengthened pound sterling versus euro and Scandinavian currencies put British wood products at a disadvantage in export markets. And it explains that British timber is heavily dependent on the exchange rate value of the pound. The significant gap between Euro and Swedish Krona denominated import prices and home grown prices denominated in the British pound narrowed significantly, which rendered Scandinavian exported sawn timber more competitive in 2015. Consequently, imports from mainland Europe rose at the expense of UK timber growers, whose timber sale returns in turn declined due to weakening saw-log prices. Subsequently the medium term run of forestry property price returns were impacted as investors and analysts made the adjustment. ‘The total return from UK Forestry of almost 11% is… Continue reading
